Praxian Tricksters

From: PMichaels_at_aol.com
Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 01:16:13 -0500


Stephen Martin, on the Trickster Form chart from the old "Waha's Quest" DW article:
>It has a Frog or Toad on it (I don't recall which). As neither of these
seems
>appropriate (nobody seems willing to accept that Frog Woman is a
>trickster!), Rattlesnake seemed appropriate.
...
>Can you also give me help with Prax, as that is the more immediate need?
>You seem to have devoted a lot of thought to this. A one-page article
>about the forms of Trickster in Prax would be most welcome.

Sure! I believe I have, at one time or another, posted to this list each of my
Raven stories, as well as my Praxian Raven and Hyena cult descriptions. I again invite you (and everyone else too, of course) to visit my Glorantha webpage at <http://members.aol.com/pmichaels/glorantha/glorantha.html>, where you can find these and other goodies. You're welcome to whatever you want, please just let me know if you decide to use it.

On Terra each American Indian tribes mythology and religion differ greatly, and so there are a great variety of names and forms of tricksters - racoon (Abenaki) coyote (several Plains tribes), hare (Huron, Ojibwa, Chippewa), spider (Lakota, Assinboine), bluejay (Tilamook, Coos, Chinook, Creek), raven (Tlinget, Nootka), wolf (some Inuit), and even opossum (Catawba). Also please note that there are many Indian tribes that don't even give trickster a
physical form, and just provide a name for the spirit.

I believe that Praxian mythology is much more unified, and that for the Praxian humans the only trickster is Raven. Also, Prax (even including the Wastes) looks to me to be roughly the size of North Dakota - and the Dakota/Lakota/Nakota Siouxan people ranged over a whole lot more land and only had one trickster: Iktomi. (I agree that Hyena is also a trickster, but I
think he is the _Morokanth_ trickster.)

You might find interesting that Glooskap, the Micmac and Wabanaki trickster, is a frog. Also, I know of no North American Indian culture who had a rattlesnake trickster. (BTW, do we know if rattlesnakes exist in Prax?)

On the Elder Race tricksters... well, my thoughts have indeed changed some due to recent posts. I'll respond later, when I can. Until then...

Peace,

     Peter


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